Archive: Opinions

At 10:30 Friday morning the Carbon Monoxide detector in the basement began a loud chirping. I immediately called 9-1-1 (good!), then went down to the basement to investigate (maybe not so good!). I did not stay long. I called to Margaret, my wife, and we went outside in fresh air to wait for responders. CO is colorless, odorless, and deadly.

The Lansing Fire Department arrived a few minutes later. When we reentered the house, their detector immediately began to read CO. As we went down to the basement, the level quickly rose to 50 parts per million or more. Not good. Meanwhile, my detector chirped angrily away, just as it was supposed to do. We went back up and outside, opening the first floor to fresh air as we went. I also turned off the furnace.

NYSEG arrived a bit later. Dawn’s (the NYSEG Tech) more sensitive equipment began reading levels of CO on the first floor, and greater than 40 parts per million in the basement. Now, yesterday, I had detected what I thought was a leaking hot water heater, which is located in the same mechanical closet as the furnace. I assumed, therefore, that the hot water heater was malfunctioning, and was the cause of the CO. I had even placed a call to Sears to come and check the unit. Dawn decided to check both appliances. She had me turn on the furnace, and her detector immediately began to go crazy. She took off an inspection panel, and discovered that the exhaust pipe had uncoupled from the furnace. A C-clamp had loosened, and fallen off, causing the furnace to exhaust inside the basement! CO was filling the basement, and seeping upstairs into the house.

Since there is a lot of water vapor in the exhaust, that was also the source of the water on the floor. Had I left the furnace on earlier, concentrations would have continued to climb. I won’t go into what might have happened to us during this cold March, had we not had a working CO detector in the basement.

Here are some facts from the Consumer Product Safety Commission: “The health effects of CO depend on the CO concentration and length of exposure, as well as each individual's health condition. CO concentration is measured in parts per million (ppm). Most people will not experience any symptoms from prolonged exposure to CO levels of approximately 1 to 70 ppm but some heart patients might experience an increase in chest pain. As CO levels increase and remain above 70 ppm, symptoms become more noticeable and can include headache, fatigue and nausea. At sustained CO concentrations above 150 to 200 ppm, disorientation, unconsciousness, and death are possible.”

We are going to follow the CPSC’s recommendation and install a CO detector on every floor, and in the hallway by the bedrooms on the second floor. You should, too. Today!

Rich and Margaret Steinacher
Lansing